Undergraduate Program

Culture & Expression (C&E) takes a multidisciplinary approach to explore the catalytic relationship between the creative human imagination and the multiple cultural settings that ignite it. Theoretical courses prepare students to delve into the core of 'meaning' in culture and to gain a fresh understanding of the nature of culture and the arts in social, artistic and political contexts. The program encourages students to explore historical and contemporary issues and themes and how they are reflected through a range of cultural forms, popular and artistic, including literature, film, music, the law, architecture, visual arts and culture, technology and digital media, among others.

Culture & Expression is set within the larger sphere of culture studies, concerning itself with the fabric and political meanings of cultural forms, both traditional and contemporary. Students learn how to explore the question of 'meaning' in culture as they gain a deeper knowledge of its complex nature in various contexts. Culture & Expression emphasizes experiential learning, including off campus excursions, providing students with a wide range of opportunities to interact directly with their subject matter.

Culture & Expression reflects the rich research and teaching interests of its faculty members. Its breadth of view embraces intercultural awareness locally and in a global context with a view to understanding the human cultural situation in its diversity and complexity.

C&E graduates may go on to graduate studies, professional degrees or careers in the arts, media, teaching, business, social activism, law and government, to name a few. Graduates of the program will be valued for their skills in communication, critical reasoning, organization, research, problem-solving and critical cultural awareness.

Learning Objectives

The proposed program is designed to:

provide students with opportunities to study cultural forms as a meaningful and 'meaning producing' set of discourses with historical, social, philosophical and aesthetic relevance; and to

provide theoretical and methodological frames of reference, providing students with conceptual tools to prepare them for a life long appreciation and understanding of meaning in culture;

encourage the development of life long skills of reasoning and discernment by learning how to question critically, evaluate thoughtfully and to articulate substantiated critical views clearly.